Ondo Finance [ONDO] moved closer to erasing its July losses after rebounding from a decline to $0.37, holding the $0.40 level, and reaching a local high of $0.41.

At the time of writing, ONDO was trading near $0.406, up 5.6% on the daily chart. Over the same period, trading volume increased 55% to $123 million, pointing to greater market participation.

ONDO futures activity exceeds spot volume

ONDO’s price increase, which came alongside a shift in broader market sentiment, was accompanied by stronger demand from traders for leveraged positions. Trader Sarosh noted that ONDO futures activity remained larger than spot activity in a post on X: https://x.com/SaroshQ2022/status/2081409359741866318?s=20. The gap suggests that traders have been willing to take leveraged exposure to the asset.

CoinGlass data reflected the same market imbalance. ONDO futures volume rose 54% to $285 million, while spot volume increased 67% to $64.6 million.

That left a gap of about $218 million between futures and spot volumes, indicating elevated risk appetite in the ONDO market. Futures can magnify both gains and losses because traders use leverage, so a market led by derivatives may be more sensitive to sharp position unwinds than one driven mainly by spot buying.

Traders also committed additional capital to new positions. ONDO derivatives volume climbed 59% to $288 million, while Open Interest increased 6% to $204 million.

The rise in both derivatives volume and Open Interest supported the view that demand for leveraged positions had intensified. Open Interest tracks outstanding derivatives contracts, so an increase alongside higher volume generally shows that new positions are being added rather than only existing contracts changing hands. Over the past day, ONDO spot volume moved into negative territory after remaining positive for two days.

At press time, spot netflow had fallen to -$929,000, implying that volume was mostly buyer-dominated.

Technical indicators show stronger buying pressure

ONDO was seeing strong market demand as traders continued to display higher risk appetite. The token’s Relative Strength Index, or RSI, rose to 63, suggesting strong buying pressure.

The ADX-DI indicator also reflected the same conditions. The positive directional index increased to 34, while the ADX rose to 25.

With the ADX and +DI rising together, the indicator pointed to stronger upward momentum and a greater likelihood that the trend would continue.

If demand continues to increase, particularly in futures, while spot activity also rises to keep pace, ONDO could extend its gains. Under that scenario, the altcoin would target a move to flip the $0.45 resistance level.

For that setup to remain intact, ONDO would need a daily close above $0.40. Failure to hold that level would expose the token to another retest of the $0.35 support level.